Free Fallin'
by shesabrick
Summary: Because when I write fanfic I can make the characters do anything I want.... Jess/Rory and Luke/Loelei. second season
1. Of coffee and innappropriate shirts

"Hey Luke", Rory said as she perched on one of the stools in front of the counter.

"I assume you want coffee?" he replied.

"You know me so very well", she said smiling.

He poured her a cup of coffee and asked "Where's your mom?"

"Oh, she was being slow so I left her back at the house. She was trying to decide whether to wear the gold leopard-print top or the black embroidered one. I personally voted for the t-shirt with Hootie and The Blowfish taking their names a little too seriously with a real fish but she wanted to go a more conservative route." Rory said, as she reached over the counter to grab a doughnut.

Luke looked lost. "Hootie and the- oh God. Bad, bad picture." Luke said as he walked away, looking a little queasy. "Great, now I'm going to have to go through years of therapy to get over that experience" He muttered as he went to take a tables order.

Rory just giggled.

Just then, Lorelei entered the diner. She looked around for a moment and, on glancing her daughter, rushed over to her and sat down next to her. "Rory! How could you" she began, in a slightly raised voice. "How could you leave your only mother all by herself, to fend of the gods of wardrobe emergencies? We are a team. We are Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde, Sonny and Cher, The Three Stooges. Do you think any one of those esteemed people abandoned their partners when they were in need? No! Do you think that when Thelma decided to drive over that cliff, Louise jumped out the passenger door? No! Do you think that if one day, Curley's hair wasn't curly enough Moe and Larry just abandoned him? No, they most certainly did not. I am hurt that my own flesh and blood would abandon me in my time of need. And now I will probably need extensive psychiatric help if you don't want your super-cool party mom to turn into Mommy Dearest- or worse, Emily Gilmore." Lorelei finished her monologue and drained Rory's cup.

"Wow," Luke said, walking behind the counter to get her own cup of coffee. "How do you not use up all the air in the world?"

"Hey, you and Luke can go to a therapist together!" Rory said, looking up at her mother.

"Why does Luke need a shrink?" Lorelei asked.

"I told him about your t-shirt." Rory replied.

"Oh", Lorelei nodded wisely.

"It was not an image I needed in my head this early in the morning." Luke said, handing Lorelei the coffee.

"Poor Lukey, we are a bad influence on him." Lorelei said viciously attacking the coffee.

"Slow down, you're going to give yourself an aneurysm." Luke said.

"Slow down you die." Lorelei said, looking Luke in the eye.

"Well would you at least like me to get you a needle so you can inject the caffeine straight into your bloodstream?"

"Yeah, that would be great thanks."

Luke just grunted and walked away.

"Sometimes I swear that man has the vocabulary of a farm animal." Lorelei said to Rory.

"Just call him Babe." Rory replied, smiling.

Luke walked back over to the counter.

Rory looked up at Luke. "Hey, um where is Jess?"

"Upstairs, why?"

"I have a book to give him. Can I go up?"

Luke shrugged.

"Thanks." Rory said as the walked upstairs.

Lorelei just watched her go.

"What's wrong?" Asked Luke, picking up on Lorelei's grim expression.

Lorelei looked over at him, surprise etched on her face. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Luke looked skeptically at her then shrugged and began to walk away.

"By the way, I like your shirt." He said.

Lorelei glanced up at him. "Thanks." She said, ducking her head to hide her smile.


	2. An unusually sentimental fool

Rory walked upstairs until she got to the landing and stood contemplating the door in front of her. She had never been in Luke's apartment, entered into his private sanctuary of sorts. It was a nice door, glass windows and heavy, hard-looking wood. She reached out and touched it. It was definitely a very manly door, very fitting for Luke and his nephew.

There. She had arrived at the topic that she had been so skillfully avoiding in her mind. Jess Mariano. Even thinking his name made her feel guilty. She didn't know why; she had no reason to feel guilt. They were friends. Maybe it was because Jess wasn't exactly Dean's favorite person. Or maybe because anytime anyone mentioned the name Jess, her ears immediately perked up. It wasn't a conscience thing- it just seemed to happen.

All she knew was that she couldn't stand in front of this door anymore. So she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

There was no answer. So she knocked again. Nothing. She gripped the doorknob and turned. The door opened and Rory stepped into the room.

She looked around. It seemed like a standard bachelor pad, very dark and manly looking. She peered further into the room.

Jess was half-sitting half-lying on a couch, reading a book. He didn't even look up as Rory walked in.

"Hey" she said, making her way further into the room. "I knocked but no one answered so I just decided to let myself in."

He glanced up at her over the top of his book. "What if I was naked or something?"

"Do you generally walk around naked in Luke's apartment?"

"Luke has very radical ideas of child-rearing" Jess said, returning to his book.

"What are you reading?"

She walked over. "An oven-cleaning manual? Interested in a career cleaning ovens?"

He grimaced. "Luke doesn't have much in the way of books. Or a T.V. And if I go downstairs he will make me wait tables or something."

"Isn't that your job?" Rory asked, sitting down next to him on the couch.

"I just don't feel like working, alright?"

She stared at him for a moment, surprised by the bitter note in his voice. Then she picked up a piece of paper that was lying next to Jess on the couch. "What's this? A love letter from a girl?" She teased as she unfolded the letter. "Well what do you now, our Jess is a regular Casanova."

He just laughed bitterly. "I wish. No, that's a letter from my dear old mum. Can't find the time to pick up a damn phone, but she manages to write me a novel."

"What does it say?"

"She wants me to come home. To New York. Says she has got a new boyfriend and that this time we will be like "a real family." Like, I don't know the Brady Bunch or something. Says she has quit all the stuff she used to do like drink and smoke and be generally irresponsible." He shook his head and threw the letter back on the ground.

" Are you going to go?"

"Why? Tired of me already?"

"No, I just mean…." Rory stammered, caught off-guard.

"I don't know. Every few months she does this. Swears she "has changed" and that now we can all be "a family. Yeah, probably not."

"I don't think you should go." Rory said, looking down at her hands plucking at the threads in a pillow.

"Why not?" He asked, looking at her with a fierce look on his face.

"Because Luke needs you. You may not think so but he does. And so does Miss Patty- she would miss her man candy. Plus, the town would be boring without you."

"That's all?"

"That's not enough?"

He glanced away from her, but not before a faint trace of disappointment could be seen on his face. Then he stood up and said "Well, you had better go. I have things to do, ovens to learn how to clean." His tone was perfectly unaffected- as though their conversation had just been about the weather.

"Yeah, and I have to go see Dean."

"Ah, how is Dawson? Still an upstanding citizen as always?"

"He 's fine."

"Good, glad to hear it." Jess said, looking anything but glad.

Rory walked to the door as Jess sat back down.

"So, I'll see you later?" She asked.

"Can't see how it can be avoided, this town is so small." He replied.

She nodded and opened the door. Then she hesitated. "Jess?"

He looked up.

"Don't move to New York." Then she vanished through the door, leaving Jess staring into the thin air where she had just been.


	3. Rudolf in a Chilton Uniform

"Five Dollars Taylor throws that tomato at him."

Rory just looked at her mom. "Do you really think I am going to take that bet? This is Taylor we're talking about. You do remember Taylor, right? Big man, big ideas?"

"Ah come on. You know you want to take the bet… Besides, Taylor is a pacifist."

"A pacifist?" Rory asked skeptically.

"Well yeah. I mean, I'm sure he has never marched in the streets with a sign, but I sense that inside that huge heart of his is a Gandhi just waiting to break free and wage a war against, well war."

"You're weird."

"Puleeze. The fact that Taylor is a pacifist totally tips the scale in your favor!"

"Sorry, I don't have five bucks." Rory said, beginning to walk away."

" Uh, fine. Whoever loses has to…wear the hat!" Lorelei said, pulling a baseball cap with antlers attached to it out of her bag.

"Mom! Put that away! What did I tell you about that thing? God."

"What? It's cute."

Rory just sighed. "Besides, that's not fair because you want wear the hat. No bet."

"Fine. If you lose, you wear the hat for the entire rest of the day. And if I lose, I have to…."

" Watch that documentary on the French Revolution with me tonight."

"Nooo! Rory, my sweet innocent daughter, have I taught you nothing? Movie nights are for movies, not documentaries! Where did I go wrong?"

"Documentaries are movies."

"Says who. Tell me one person in the entire world who considers a documentary a movie."

"The Academy of Motion Pictures?"

Lorelei waved hands. "A minor detail. Fine. If I win- crazy fun hat day." And if you win- a slow, tortuous death filled with cake and Marie Antoinette's inappropriately large hair."

" Fine."

Both Lorelei and Rory watched Taylor argue with the customer, who apparently wanted pineapples and just wouldn't believe that they "weren't in season for pity's sake". Then as if in slow motion, Taylor pulled back his arm and…

"Yes!! Victory is mine!" Lorelei shouted as Taylor hurled the Tomato at the man, missing him by about two football fields.

Then, she pulled out the hat and jammed it on her daughter's head. "Wow. Has anyone ever told you that you look absolutely spiffing with antlers? Because you do."

Rory just scowled and adjusted the hat. "I'm not talking to you ever again. And when I end up in that mental institution from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- well, just know that it's all your fault."

Lorelei just kept laughing. "Oh, hello Brad Pitt!" She said, waving over Rory's shoulder. " Johnny Depp- how nice of you to join us! And Dean, aren't you looking tall today!"

Rory just rolled her eyes. "Oh, very, very funny."

Just then , she heard a new voice from behind her. "Uh, hey Rory. Nice hat."

Rory spun around. "Dean, hey!" She gave a shaky laugh. " Um, how are you?"

"Good." He said, giving her a confused look. "What's with the hat?"

Rory quickly reached up and took it off. "Oh, it's nothing. Just another one of my mom's pathetic attempts to make me uglier than her. Hasn't worked yet." She said, walking over to Dean and grabbing his hand. " Do you want to go get something to eat at Lukes?"

"Sure." He said with a bemused look on his face.

Lorelei just smiled from behind them. "Ugh, hand-holding? Seriously guys-get a room."

Rory just gave her mom a dirty look and pulled her boyfriend towards Luke's.


	4. Franny and Zooey

Rory and Dean entered the diner hand-in-hand, with Lorelei following close behind

Rory and Dean entered the diner hand-in-hand, with Lorelei following close behind. Rory quickly scanned the diner, and then sighed with relief when she saw that Jess was not there. She wasn't in the mood for testosterone-fueled contests in the morning. To tell the truth, she wasn't fond of them ever. She would have to talk to Dean about the silent agreement him and Jess seemed to have made to hate each other.

The three of them sat down at a table and Luke walked over. He grunted a something sounding like a good morning and held his pen up to the order pad.

"I'll have eggs, over easy with a side of bacon." Dean said, closing his menu.

Luke nodded and looked over at Rory and Lorelei. "And what will the two of you have? A heart attack omelet with a side of obesity?"

"Oh you joker you. You know we like our heart attacks scrambled." Lorelei replied. Luke just sighed and shook his head.

" Three blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon and sausage and a goblet of coffee." Rory said, smiling sweetly.

"Make that two and step on it!" Lorelei practically yelled.

Luke gave her a dirty look and walked to the counter.

Just then, a shadow appeared over Rory's shoulder and a book plopped down in front of her. She turned around and her stomach did one of those inappropriate flip-floppy things.

"Hey," said Jess (Because of course it was Jess. Seriously, who else could turn her stomach into Carly Patterson? Taylor?)

The Rory realized that while she had been having a conversation with herself Jess, Dean, her mom, Luke, Kirk, and the weird old man in the fedora sitting in the corner were all staring at her, waiting for her answer. She started. "Oh, hey. Uh, what's up?"

"I brought you a book."

Rory looked down at the paperback in front of her. "Franny and Zooey. Oh, I've read this. Good choice."

"Surpring, really? It's Salinger. Do you not know me at all?"

"No, not surprising. Actually, you kind of remind me of Zooey, so it's fitting really. Like a biography. It's just like you to want to read about someone who is exactly like you."

Jess smirked. "Well, you do kind of remind me of Franny, so I could really say the same about you."

She laughed. "Hey now, that's not fair. I would not have a mental breakdown in the middle of dinner."

"Well we all know how much you like your food…."

She hit him in the arm. Softly. We all know physical exertion isn't a Gilmore trait. It was a playful gesture, meaning nothing. Friendly. But Dean glowered nevertheless.

Rory just ignored him though. "Really though. Please don't say I'm like Franny. She is a bit of a drip. I mean, seriously. The whole chanting and crying? I'd like to think I wouldn't stoop that low."

Jess smirked. "Oh, I absolutely agree. When you do go postal, you will go all out. Waving around a gun while swearing inappropriately."

At this, Dean moved as if he were going to hit Jess. He hadn't quite been able to follow the conversation, as he had never read the book, but he was pretty sure that Jess had just insulted Rory. And he was so not cool with that.

"Why don't you just leave us alone and go help another customer Jess?" Dean said, threateningly.

Jess looked over at him. "Whoa, slow down there Skippy. We haven't given you a literary character yet. Hmm, maybe their mom? She's a lovely person. Or maybe we should segue to another great literary work and just name you Tom. Hmm, yes, it has a nice ring to it. Simple, yet containing so much potential." He narrowed his eyes at Dean and waited to see if anyone could figure out his reference.

Dean didn't get it though, but he thought he had been insulted. He wasn't sure though and wasn't about to fight Jess if he wasn't, so he just settled for a quasi-threatening growl and a clenched fist, which made him look more comical than scary. However, he was not the only one who was confused. Rory and Lorelei didn't seem to understand what the hell Jess was talking about, which made him feel a lot better.

Jess just smirked when he all he received for his remark were three blank stares. "Bye Daisy", he said to Rory before turning and walking back to the counter.

Rory smiled and ducked her head, Dean glowered (although he wasn't sure why) and Lorelei shook her head in exasperation.


End file.
